Disclaimer: Regrettably I own nothing, the credit goes to dear old Jo! I do however take liberties regarding Harry's timetable this year (see below)
Waking up slightly late on Friday Harry rushed to get dressed and powered his way to the great hall. He arrived just in time to grab some food, seating himself next to Ron at the same time. Friday's for Harry always gave comfort. Tomorrow was Saturday, Saturday meant no classes, nothing could be wrong with that in Harry's books.
He chanced a look to the staff table and noticed Snape was there, albeit seemingly grudgingly. He caught gazes but all too soon the professor turned away, engaging in a conversation with McGonagall
Lessons dragged by that day, he'd heard Slughorn had returned to Potions but thankfully Harry didn't have Potions on friday. Transfiguration was okay, a double lesson that day. When defence came by after his free after lunch he was more than a little nervous; he always was now in both Potions and Defence. He shuffled in, taking his seat quickly, just in time for Snape to come charging in in his usual vigour.
"Take your seats, wands on your desks," he quickly ordered, stopping at the front of the class, turning to face them all.
"Now we will be moving on from Non Verbal spells however we WILL be coming back to them and I DO expect improvement. Today we will be looking at Dementors. Many of you will be quite aware of them from your third year and know they are usually the guards of Azkaban wizarding prison. There is a spell to repel a Dementor which by the end of the lesson you will know and be practicing. Now turn to page 178."
The next half an hour was simply reading about dementors, what they were and what they did, how they worked. Many people became very … peaky the more they read. Harry however was in a sense… bored. He'd had this lesson before, and with a much more exciting teacher. Lupin was by far his best teacher he ever had for Defence against the Dark Arts. Then it came to knowing how to repel a Dementor:
"Now before you all go crying to your beloved parents, there is a spell to protect yourself from a Dementor, called the Patronus Charm. Potter… come here, bring your wand." This made Harry pay attention in a heartbeat. Shakily he grabbed his wand, slowly making his way to the front of the class.
"Now Mister Potter, why don't you show the class what this spell looks like, huh? First a non-corporeal Patronus if you please." Wait… he wanted Harry to cast a patronus, why couldn't Snape? Nodding briefly Harry quickly waved his wand, keeping his parents in mind,
"Expecto Patronum" A shield of silver light shot out his wand, not taking form, just like Snape had asked. After a few seconds, he disconnected the spell.
"And now a corporeal patronus" To this Harry didn't even nod he just simply recast the spell, muttering expecto patronum again, this time letting the Stag take form, it galloped around the room before stopping next to Harry, bowing it's head, to which Harry did the same. Then he broke the spell. Turning to face Snape.
"There you go, the spell is Expecto Patronum, written on the bored. Sit back down Potter." The Gryffindor did as he was told, listening half-heartedly to Snape go on about how a happy memory was needed and what the spell did. Hermione looked over to him grinning, she of course could produce a patronus, and so could Neville and so could Ron. This class would be easy for the Gryffindor side of the room. Soon they were moving desks aside, getting ready to cast their patronuses. Once given the command to begin, as if it was planned, Harry shouted:
"1…2…3" with that the Gryffindors all shouted: 'expect patronum!'
Several patronuses shot across the room, all corporeal. Hermione's Otter began waddling around, confused as if to say: "well where's the dementor then?"
Ron's Jack Russell was trying to jump on Ron's leg, full of life and clearly happy to be here. Nevilles badger plodded around, sniffing the floor as if there was something interesting there. Seeing all of these reminded Harry of Dumbledore's army and he smiled as he thought of all the funny times they'd had.
Snape suddenly appeared behind him.
"Well well, it seems you were extremely busy last year, teaching all your little friends. Don't worry, I'm sure I can come up with some way to make these lessons entertaining for you, have no fear." Then he was gone, Harry glared. Git, he thought.
It turned out that to make it more "fun" the Gryffindor's were all given an extra essay to do, explaining why a person's patronus could change, and in what conditions this could occur. On top of that they would in lessons be learning how to send messages via Patronus. Harry rolled his eyes at finding out but still… it was totally worth it. At the end of the lesson, as he was packing up, Harry found his essay being placed on his desk.
"Early for a change, Mister Potter, I won't hold much hope for this to continue however it was a nice surprise." With that Snape was gone. Quickly glancing at the "E" that was scrawled at the top he stuffed it back in his bag, heading for the common room. Once there he found a quiet corner, slumping in the comfy chair there, and pulled out his essay. Waving over it with his wand he revealed the writing at the bottom of the Essay.
Potter,
Invisible ink? Really? You realise any professor could have seen this, if they'd gotten hold of it. I suppose however it was an acceptable idea.
My 'meeting' was fine; however that is none of your concern. As I said, you have a tendency to be where you shouldn't be, making you see things that you shouldn't.
Regarding Occlumency: Yes, once you mastered one way, learning the other way would become easier however every Wizard prefers one way to the other.
Potions lessons… yes that would have been how I would have gone about it. I will however try my best to control the urge to insult your father and will keep a beady eye on the clock to make sure you are indeed early or on time.
If you'd been in Slytherin? Where does this come from Potter? Anyway, I guess I would have treated you differently yes. That may in turn be because YOU would have acted differently. Weasly and Granger wouldn't have been your friends; you may have even been friends with Mr Malfoy. This however is all hypothetical, but I'm curious as to why you ask. Enlighten me.
Professor Snape
Harry sighed upon finishing, so Dumbledore never told Snape that he was nearly placed in Slytherin? Curious. Why not? He would have to ask the old man, Harry decided, while folding away the essay, heading towards the dorm room. Stuffing it with the rest of his homework he decided to freshen up before dinner which what in precisely… 15 minutes.
He made it just in time for the tables to suddenly be filled with mountains of food. Settling next to Hermione he grabbed some things, placing them half-heartedly onto his plate. Munching slowly he absentmindedly talked to Hermione and Ron and before too long it was 10 minutes to 7: best head to the dungeons. Taking one last bite he pushed his plate away, stood and bid his friends farewell.
He knocked swiftly on the door when he arrived 5 minutes later and of course he heard a brisk command to enter. Doing so he found Snape once again behind his desk, reading some mind numbingly large book, which upon inspection of the title, Harry found to be a book on the dark arts. Typical.
"Good evening sir" was all Harry thought to come up with to begin the conversation.
"Indeed Potter." Came the reply, after a sigh the man before him bookmarked his place and then used his wand to levitate the book back to the bookshelf behind him, turning his gazed to the young Gryffindor before him.
"Sit" he requested after a moments hesitation. Obeying silently, Harry wondered what plans the 'bat of the dungeons' had.
"Before we begin Potter I have a few questions," the man began, "now, would you care to answer the question I posed in my reply to your essay." Harry gulped, sensing a trap somewhere, he was decisive about what he revealed.
"Well, Sir, when I was sorted into my house all the years ago, the hat had something about Slytherin, that's all" He settled on, coming to the conclusion that this was a satisfactory answer.
"You're not telling the whole truth Potter… I can tell when you're holding information or lying. Don't make me get my supply of Veritiserum, or indeed use a spell you are quite fond of, Legilimens…"
"How did you know?" Harry muttered in defeat.
"Your mother had the same expression when she was holding the truth too." Harry snapped his head up at this, how comes he knew so much about his mother. "Now, Potter, answer my question, properly this time." A flash of warning was in the man's eyes and finally Harry relented.
"Fine, the sorting hat said I would do well in Slytherin, and wanted to place me there… however I… persuaded it to see otherwise. So I ended in Gryffindor." Snape at hearing this settled back into his chair more fully, placing his fingers together under his chin.
"My my, Potter, a secret snake huh? I suppose you're glad you did end with the Lions. You would have been expelled in your second year if I do recall." Harry smiled at this, remembering the rather hectic trip via the 'invisible' enchanted car.
"With all due respect, I doubt if I would have been put in Slytherin that you would have expelled me, couldn't be seen punishing your own house now could we. Plus as you pointed out, Ron probably wouldn't have been my friend, ergo: no car."
"touché, Mister Potter." Was that a smile? Yes, definitely a smile crept onto the man's face. It was soon covered up however and he went back to his usually cold, calculating self.
"Very well, you have answered my question. Now, here, take out a quill and answer these questions as best you can, I need to know what level you're at regarding potions." Suddenly a test paper materialised in Harry's hands. It looked long and arduous and quite frankly daunting and above all boring! Sighing Harry pulled himself closer to the desk so he could use it and set to work answering the questions. Some were basic question he could answer. Others were a little taxing, some required him to give it his best guess and others he had no clue. It took what seemed hours upon hours to complete and by the end his vision was starting to double at the strain it put on his mind. Eventually however it was complete and Harry felt okay with his effort, he answered at least 80% of the questions and surly Snape had made it as difficult as he could… right? Wordlessly he wrote his name at the top of the first sheet and then slid it across the desk tentatively.
"Very well Potter, you may leave, I will have marked this by Monday have no fear." Sighing in relief Harry swept from the room, glancing at his watch to notice it was almost curfew…
"It took me 2 and a half hours to do that test?!" Harry grumbled, picking up his pace. Upon standing in front of the portrait of the fat lady he gasped the password, clutching his sides, pulling much needed air into his lungs. The lady silently swung the door open, shaking her head at the boy before her. Stumbling in Harry went to his dorm room, pulling out his homework figuring he'd make a start. Half an hour later he threw his books aside in frustration. He was getting nowhere, he was tired and homework could wait until tomorrow. He did however practice Occlumency for another 15 minutes, picturing his box of memories being shut, locked and this time, he threw away the key. Breathing felt a little easier and after changing into his night clothes he drifted off soundlessly and slept easy that night.
Hey guys, so here is Harry's Schedule for this story in case you wondered! I should say that I based this off of my own education when I was at College. We take 3 subjects onto the equivalent of "NEWT" level (we call them A Levels) and I got these lessons 4 times a week. I also tried to accommodate what information I could get from the book as to his lessons and when they were. In Hogwarts it's common to have double lessons, therefore I gave Harry a double lesson in each of his newts once a week (except Herbology) and then an extra 2 hours in other places. So he has a total of 4 hours tuition a week in each subject. It is not unusual for lessons to finish at 4:30pm (1 this is a boarding school and 2 during my own education my day ended at 4:20, not so far off) Dinner in case you wanted to know is at 6pm in my story. Regarding meal times you are allowed to turn up at any time, unless it's a special occasion, but the later you are the less time you have to eat obviously. I've tried to use a combination of my own experience (Hogwarts is after all based on a british schooling system!) and what I can gather from the books. Regarding free periods, this is also known to have happened in Hogwarts (as well as my own education) so I gave Harry some 'frees' as we used to call them. These are meant to be used for independent study and so on. Now onto uniform, students need to wear their uniform in all lessons and meals. They could at the end of the day back in their common room change however as they are only a few hours away from sleeping, not many do this and just stay in their uniform. Curfew for years 1-3 is 9pm, for year 5-7 it is 10pm. Now let me tell you a little joke, every time I write that Harry got an E in one of his tests, it always makes me chuckle because in my school an E grade was a fail! Nothing to do with exceeding expectations! haha. So there you go, a little info about "my" version of Hogwarts :)
Monday:
9:00 - 10:00: Herbology
10:00 - 10:30: Break
10:30 - 11:30: Double Defence Against The Dark Arts
11:30 - 12:30: Double Defence Against The Dark Arts
12:30 - 14:30: Lunch
14:30 - 15:30: Double Potions
15:30 - 16:30: Double Potions
Tuesday:
9:00 - 10:00: Herbology
10:00 - 10:30: Break
10:30 - 11:30: Charms
11:30 - 12:30: Free
12:30 - 14:30: Lunch
14:30 - 15:30: Defence Against The Dark Arts
15:30 - 16:30: Transfiguration
Wednesday:
9:00 - 10:00: Potions
10:00 - 10:30: Break
10:30 - 11:30: Double Charms
11:30 - 12:30: Double Chamrs
12:30 - 14:30: Lunch
14:30 - 15:30: Transfiguration
15:30 - 16:30: Free
Thursday:
9:00 - 10:00: Free
10:00 - 10:30: Break
10:30 - 11:30: Potions
11:30 - 12:30: Herbology
12:30 - 14:30: Lunch
14:30 - 15:30: Charms
15:30 - 16:30: Free
Friday:
9:00 - 10:00: Herbology
10:00 - 10:30: Break
10:30 - 11:30: Double Transfiguration
11:30 - 12:30: Double Transfiguration
12:30 - 14:30: Lunch
14:30 - 15:30: Free
15:30 - 16:30: Defence Against The Dark Arts
